21st-Century Portraits

Published by National Portrait GalleryIntroduction by Sarah Howgate, Sandy Nairne. Foreword by Andrew Graham-Dixon.

With over 150 illustrations by 50 artists, 21st-Century Portraits explores new developments in the representation of the human form and face as well as the continuing appeal of commissioned portraiture. The selection of portraits features cutting-edge new work from the international art community, and reflects an increasing interest in identity worldwide. Organized thematically, the book examines seven key strands of portraiture: Observational Portraits; Self-Portraits; Commissioned and Celebrity Portraits; Social Portraits; Geopolitics and National Identity; The Body; and Re-invented Portraits. The artists and photographers featured are Marina Abramovi´c, Francis Alÿs, Sophie Calle, Tacita Dean, Rineke Dijkstra, Milena Dragicevic, Marlene Dumas, Lucian Freud, Shadi Ghadirian, Antony Gormley, Zhang Huan, Chantal Joffe, Michael Landy, Annie Leibovitz, Hew Locke, Steve McQueen, Oscar Muñoz, Shirin Neshat, Julian Opie, Grayson Perry, Marc Quinn, Gerhard Richter, Boo Ritson, Jenny Saville, Thomas Struth, Tomoaki Suzuki, Sam Taylor-Wood, Gavin Turk, Gillian Wearing and Bettina von Zwehl. With a foreword by Andrew Graham-Dixon and an essay by Sandy Nairne (Director of the National Portrait Gallery) and Sarah Howgate (Curator of Contemporary Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery) that locates contemporary portraiture within a historic tradition, 21st-Century Portraits examines current trends, showcasing the wide range of media used by today’s artists. The book also includes an extensive list of suggested further reading.

CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 2/18/2014

Dawn Mellor's 2007 oil painting, "Morrissey," is reproduced from the National Portrait Gallery's smart new survey, 21st Century Portraits. Essayist Jo Higgins writes, "If tabloid magazines could paint, their garish and sometimes cruel editorials would probably look like the portraits of celebrities that have appeared in Dawn Mellor's ongoing Vile Affections series (2007–). No one is spared Mellor's caustic treatment, as politicians, film stars, world leaders and even the occasional feminist theorist are brutally misrepresented—disfigured, mutilated, sexualized and parodied with the enthusiasm of an overzealous fan. Punctured with paintbrushes as if shot from a bow, the singer Morrissey, quiff still intact, spouts blood from his head and torso like a grim firework, while former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher emerges as if from the mines, the 'strike' on her forehead an ambiguous violent entreaty… Despite the violence inflicted upon them, there exists a mawkish empathy towards her subjects, and Mellor has said that the real object of her disillusion is not the celebrity, but the media machinations that surround them." continue to blog

Published by National Portrait Gallery.Introduction by Sarah Howgate, Sandy Nairne. Foreword by Andrew Graham-Dixon.

With over 150 illustrations by 50 artists, 21st-Century Portraits explores new developments in the representation of the human form and face as well as the continuing appeal of commissioned portraiture. The selection of portraits features cutting-edge new work from the international art community, and reflects an increasing interest in identity worldwide. Organized thematically, the book examines seven key strands of portraiture: Observational Portraits; Self-Portraits; Commissioned and Celebrity Portraits; Social Portraits; Geopolitics and National Identity; The Body; and Re-invented Portraits. The artists and photographers featured are Marina Abramovi´c, Francis Alÿs, Sophie Calle, Tacita Dean, Rineke Dijkstra, Milena Dragicevic, Marlene Dumas, Lucian Freud, Shadi Ghadirian, Antony Gormley, Zhang Huan, Chantal Joffe, Michael Landy, Annie Leibovitz, Hew Locke, Steve McQueen, Oscar Muñoz, Shirin Neshat, Julian Opie, Grayson Perry, Marc Quinn, Gerhard Richter, Boo Ritson, Jenny Saville, Thomas Struth, Tomoaki Suzuki, Sam Taylor-Wood, Gavin Turk, Gillian Wearing and Bettina von Zwehl. With a foreword by Andrew Graham-Dixon and an essay by Sandy Nairne (Director of the National Portrait Gallery) and Sarah Howgate (Curator of Contemporary Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery) that locates contemporary portraiture within a historic tradition, 21st-Century Portraits examines current trends, showcasing the wide range of media used by today’s artists. The book also includes an extensive list of suggested further reading.